Re: Albini Rant
At 9:33 PM -0500 on 4/28/99, BARNARD wrote: Jeff, the last I saw the Albini text was when Purcell posted it way back, at least 18 months ago?... Maybe Dave still has the reference. I don't remember the exact search phrase Mr. P used, but if you search for "Albini" and "fucked" in your favorite search engine, you should find the page and some mighty interesting banner ads as well. Bob
Re: Goose Creek Symphony
At 12:20 AM -0500 on 4/26/99, marie arsenault wrote: Terry Smith: assume consensus on this notion that any guitar solo over 30 seconds is self-indulgent. 30 seconds, no. Over 5 minutes, perhaps. I'd rather have a 5-minute guitar solo than a 20-second drum solo. Bob
Re: Updates
At 11:19 AM -0400 on 4/24/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Actually, I consider bluegrass alt-country. This isn't my objection to calling bluegrass alt-country, but I dunno how a staid, conservative genre like bluegrass becomes an alternative to a staid, conservative genre like country. It's just the easiest point to make. Bob
RE: Updates
At 6:33 PM +0200 on 4/23/99, Marie wrote: I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the world does not need anymore tribute albums. g It's one of those ideas that are better in theory. The only really good one is *Tulare Dust*, imo. And the Tom T. Hall tribute is pretty good. The Jo Carol Pierce tribute is also very good. Though it sure doesn't replace her own release. And Merle's LPs honoring Jimmie Rodgers and Bob Wills aren't gonna be tossed away so easily either. Bob
Clip: Chesnutt Wilco from the Boston Globe
Dunno if any of my old homies have already posted this, since I'm a little behind. Sorry if you've already seen it... ROCK NOTES Chesnutt and Wilco: works in progress By Jim Sullivan, Globe Staff, 04/23/99 About 10 years ago, Vic Chesnutt - singer-songwriter-guitarist - spent an evening he can't recall that well, but one that turned out to be fortuitous. He was playing before a smattering of people at a Nashville bar and had propped up a cardboard sign that read ''I suck: Tapes $5.'' ''That sounds like something I would do,'' muses Chesnutt, on the phone, earlier this week. ''I remember that. That's the show where I met Kurt [Wagner] from Lambchop. He says I talked to him; I don't really remember it. I was really drunk.'' Nevertheless - or perhaps because of this lapse - a friendship developed. Last year, Chesnutt collaborated with Lambchop, a 14-piece band, to make the haunting and gorgeous song cycle album ''The Salesman and Bernadette,'' the recollections of a lovelorn salesman, someone both similar to and different from Chesnutt, he says. ''For me it's very important to have the pull between the goofy and the pathetic, the sad and funny. That's what makes my music, I think. That's my whole thing. I know the South plays a very important role in my imagination. I love it and I hate it, and that's a lot to do with my personality, my schizophrenic nature in general, and the nature of my music.'' The shape of the album ''started after I knew I was recording with Lambchop,'' says Chesnutt. ''I started picking some old songs, writing some new songs, it turned into a song cycle, an exercise in collage portraiture. Like I was going around finding `found objects' and placing them on a big sheet of plywood, and arranging them in a portrait.'' ''I'm a big fan of Lambchop,'' he says. ''They're a big band that can play quiet. Their older records were meandering dirges and they progressed into a soul band and I like both sides. This album was a complete collaboration, and sounds like a Lambchop record in a way. They're friends, and I love 'em as people.'' Chesnutt says he had the time of his life playing 25 European shows with Lambchop. They're not on his current tour, where he's opening for Wilco (tonight at the Paradise), because they work day jobs and can't take the time off. This makes Chesnutt's solo show ''not as lush and beautiful,'' he says. ''When I play solo everything slows down a lot. I think you can see the song a lot more, it's more personality driven. Opening for Wilco is different, too. It's been great. At least half the crowd knows who I am and they're really quiet while I'm playing. I'm a short guy [a paraplegic, Chesnutt is confined to a wheelchair], and sometimes they can't see me in these packed rooms. It's heartwarming.'' In another lifetime, when he could walk, Chesnutt played keyboards in a Georgia band called the La De Das. When he was 18, while drunk, he smashed his truck into a ditch and irreparably damaged his spinal cord. In order to play guitar, Chesnutt superglues guitar picks to a glove on his right hand. Has his technique improved over time? ''No,'' he says. ''I have good days and bad days. Sometimes, I think I make breakthroughs but it's all physicality: Sometimes my fingers don't work. It used to horrify me and the show would fall apart, but I learned to play through it, learned to just not let it affect me. The crowd loves it. They come up and say, `You're so real.' They don't see people [mess] up like that that often.'' Chesnutt, says Wilco singer-guitarist Jeff Tweedy, is '' a sweet guy. I love his music. I think he's one of the best lyric writers around. It's inspiring.'' Over the past few years, the Chicago-based Wilco has been regarded as one of the alternative country-rock standard bearers. But, perhaps, that tag needs revising, at least if the music on their latest effort, ''Summer Teeth, '' is any indication. Tweedy says the expansive, wide-ranging disc is the result ''of a band that's been traveling so much the past three years, really becoming a band. We wanted to go into the studio and hear something that sounded like us, and a bit like the Beach Boys and Beatles. We really used the studio and took our time. I think we succeeded on most songs, and came up with something kinda unique.'' That was the result. Did they discuss a plan to cover so much musical territory? ''Just a little bit,'' says Tweedy. ''In general, we just wanted to put stuff on tape that would excite us at the end of the day. I wish I had some good snappy answers, but it's just something that evolved.'' They actually completed most of ''Summer Teeth'' before they went in to record the Grammy-nominated ''Mermaid Avenue'' with Billy Bragg, the collection of unearthed Woody Guthrie songs. What Tweedy took away from working with Bragg was this: ''I took away some confidence as a writer - write things down, don't worry about editing.''
RE: Updates
At 4:11 PM -0400 on 4/23/99, Jon Weisberger wrote: Ummm, who are these bands that are getting on the radio and turning newbies off of "altcountry"? I could name some pretty rotten Southern Ohio bluegrass bands That doesn't answer the question, which was about alt country... g Bob
Re: SXSW stuff
At 3:04 PM -0400 on 4/22/99, the guy who said, "You have to understand, Bob, Robbie Fulks and the Wacos *are* our music scene" wrote: Although Chicago scores extra negative style points for Moonshine Willy and the Handsome Family, two of the worst alt.country bands of all time (though, I did like a couple of HF songs Mark Wyatt played for me, and though I'm told they're quite nice people, they're not my bag of chips live). The Handsome Family opened for Vic Chesnutt recently. Wow. The sucking sounds are still echoing in Schuba's. The Timbuk 3 of alt country, except with less content. Nice voices, though (we were right up front and got the stage mix, which was pretty good). And to be fair, this wasn't a crowd that wanted to see anyone other than Chesnutt, and the HF knew it and handled it humorously. (Among themselves. We could hear the off-mic stuff pretty well.) Nonetheless, that isn't enough for me. Bob
Re: Wilco @ Pearl Street
At 4:18 PM -0400 on 4/20/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I dunno tho, sure he might be more the artiste nowadays, but I still think he tends to be very charming onstage. At least I've never seem him be anything but. I even saw him do an acoustic performance once in LA before AM came out where he was sick from bad Mexican food. He had to excuse himself more than once to use the facilities, much to the amusement of Jay Bennet. And more recently, on the Golden Smog tour, he was bar far the most charismatic performer on that stage. I'm with Neal. It's no secret that I'm just not interested in anything Tweedy is doing, but while I was going to shows learning that bit of wisdom, I always thought he was having himself a grand old time. I can separate my reaction to the performance from the performance, and I'd never say he was phoning it in. Bob
Re: Era of Perfect Singles ETC.
At 11:47 AM -0400 on 4/17/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: By the way, Miss Deanna Varagonna has some kinda stunning blues feel I must say. This wasn't at all there when she opened for Vic Chesnutt, although she's got a really nice voice. She might have varied both her material and her delivery for the two audiences, but I can't make the leap from what I heard to anything resembling blues. Bob
RE: criminally underappreciated albums of the '90s
I'd suggest damn near any blues album recorded by someone other than Buddy Guy. Bob
Re: Kiss Kiss Hug Hug
At 4:22 PM -0700 on 4/15/99, Jeff Weiss wrote: Neal: I just got back from Kentucky Friend: Really? Try... Neal: I just got back from Kentucky Friend: You must be pretty happy. Neal: I just got back from Kentucky Friend: Insurance premiums are gonna go up, huh? Neal: I just got back from Kentucky Friend: And in one piece. Neal: I just got back from Kentucky Friend: Good thing they were lousy shots. Bob
Re: Anna Egge and High Fidelity
At 8:48 AM -0400 on 4/15/99, Dave Purcell wrote: CK liking these 7:30 shows Early shows rock. We played a 7:30 Sunday night show at a cool neighborhood bar where Jon's 52 bands play regularly. Great fun, a cool way to wrap up the weekend, and everyone (except the band) was home by 10:30. I wish more places did this. Old farts. Bob
Re: weird Muzak experiences
At 4:23 PM -0500 on 4/14/99, Joe Gracey wrote: "Touched By An Angel" is apparently a rilly hot TV show right now I was startled to see that there's a weekly show about people whose lives have been changed by the show. Scary. Bob
Re: weird Muzak experiences
At 8:44 AM -0400 on 4/15/99, Geff King wrote: I think we should take a P2 poll - find out a.) who's paying this year; and b.) who got or is getting a refund. People in Category b.) can buy the drinks tonight. Refund, though not much of one. I'll see if I can send something to the barkeep at Off Broadway to cover a round... Bob
Re: Chicago Calendar, etc.
At 9:04 PM -0400 on 4/15/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: *4/20: RELS: Spade Cooley (Bloodshot Revival), "It's Heartbreak That Sells" a tribute to Ray Mason Good lord. Is this the mediocre guy from western Mass. that consistently drove a bunch of us out of clubs a few years ago? Turned up everywhere just to show *how* mediocre he was. Woof. Another one I'm going to forget to buy. Bob
Re: SOTD
At 10:03 AM -0700 on 4/13/99, Jeff Weiss wrote: At 01:39 PM 4/12/99 EDT, you wrote: Linda McCartney. The thread *isn't* the sideperson kept on the payroll because he/she is sleeping with the boss. Not that that would be a bad thread either. Personally, I'll go for Jesse Taylor. All the other names mentioned have (OK, arguably g) focused on quantity over quality. Bob
Re: Sir Doug Sahm: Alt.country Crazy Cajun
At 11:24 AM -0400 on 4/11/99, Barry Mazor wrote: I was thrilled to get a chance to speak with Doug Sahm for a few moments in that Texicali Grill parking lot during SXSW, mostly just thanking him for good music I've gotten to listen to from him for about the last 34 years--though I didn't arrange to go to wrassling bouts with him like Slim Chance did! Props to Slim, but I can top that, I think: When my then-girlfriend and I ran into Sahm and Meyers in a hotel lobby in '94, Sahm used us as an excuse to ditch the interviewer (sorry if it was one of you guys) and ended up inviting us to Hippie Hollow with them and their girlfriends to go skinny dipping. Bob
Re: Up for Kelly Willis Bruce Robison NYC?
At 1:13 AM -0400 on 4/10/99, Amy Haugesag wrote: I'm planning on going to the Saturday show, since on Friday nights I prefer to have a sleepfest--you know, that's when you come home, take a nap, wake up, have a glass of wine, and go back to sleep. Amy gets my vote for P2 party animal of the year. But don't award it at Twangfest, since she'll have to be awakened to receive it... Any other members of the mostly rumored NYC contingent planning to go? To sleep on your couch? Would they fit? This may be much more interesting than Twangfest... Bob
Re: Chicago Cultural Center
At 7:44 AM -0500 on 4/10/99, Tom Mohr forwarded: In collaboration with the Hideout, thursdaysomething presents the best in twanging, two-stepping, heart-breaking country music. Throw in a yodeling contest or perhaps a few films by Heather McAdams. Can I confess something? A few months ago there was a show at Record Roundup that was supposed to feature some Bob Wills soundies along with a set by the fine Ms Kessler. Tracy and I got there and it turned out that McAdams was showing home movies that she had bought at yard sales. Ever since that night, I have a tough time rationalizing the idea of taking a chance on anything that mentions her. Has her, if you'll pardon the phrase, record improved? Bob
Re: This will get my ass to a large venue:
At 11:41 AM + on 4/9/99, Ph. Barnard wrote: Interesting how lots of people chime in with Peter Wolf memories That Cobo Arena show sounds great g. I've always heard stories about what a marvelous and influential DJ Wolf was in his early Boston period, but I was in NY and Philly then and never caught any of this. My own teenage memories of being blown away by the band in that early seventies period begin when I saw them once just before the first album came out, then as often as humanly possible for the next couple of years! Wolf was really the shit in that particular moment. I recall a show when he was all in black with silver boots, just kind of a silver flash zipping back and forth across the stage and whipping the audience into a frenzy. Whew!! The music was truly amazing and they were both overwhelming and funny without being a parody I didn't see Wolf in those days, but in the last decade or so he became quite the fixture at high-profile shows at small clubs, often hanging near the stage hoping to be invited up. Only time I remember him making it was a Club 47 reunion at Johnny D's; he never performed at the club but hung out at it and occasionally helped out. Still qualified for a couple of songs, though. Bob
Re: Go see the Asylum Street Spankers
At 8:11 AM -0400 on 4/9/99, James Gerard Roll wrote: On Fri, 9 Apr 1999, Bob Soron wrote: If I weren't seeing The World's Allegedly Best Living Songwriter Who Was So Bad I Couldn't Wait to Walk Out on Him (hi Deb#s) tomorrow WHo is Bob/Deb referring to here?? This is too intriguing g . . . OK, just a small hint: His first name is Vic and a local paper misspelled his last name as Chestnut. He opened for the Cowboy Junkies a few years ago and in self-defense I lasted a lot longer than most of the crowd. Until then, the Junkies had shown great taste in opening acts, but Vic packed the theater's foyer and restrooms. Bob
Re: Spankers dates...givin' folks what they need
At 12:34 PM -0500 on 4/9/99, Meshel wrote: caught the show in Nashville a couple of nights ago, and they were great. I do miss Guy as the frontman, but Whammo has some new songs, and the best part is that they give Stan the clarinet player front stage for about 4 songs now, and it's just amazing. Still funny, new slide guitar player from France that needs to play louder but that seems to fit in well. And Christina's voice is as good as it ever was!! I chatted with Wammo briefly last night (hey, it isn't John Doe on the phone, but you take what you can get g) and he said a second solo CD is in the works, but he's waiting for Mercury to drop him so he can shop it around. I didn't mention it, but it struck me as ironic that one of the few acts that wants to be dropped hasn't been. Bob
So what P2er just got a good job?
From today's Boston Globe: - Joyce Linehan, formerly with Sub Pop Records, is the new PR director at the South Shore Music Circus - Congrats, Joyce! The South Shore Music Circus is a pretty decent venue outside Boston that books a pretty eclectic selection of musicians (plus Gallagher, if I remember). Lots of up-and-comers plus folks like Willie, Lyle Lovett once in a while, plus oldies packages and other cool niche stuff. Bob
Re: Dead Reckoning/Tammy Rogers/Dull Records/Joe Henry
At 12:04 PM -0700 on 4/9/99, Lowell Kaufman wrote: Anyone know why Dead Reckoning has become so dull recently? I haven't bought any of the three you mention, but I thought the new Mike Henderson was good enough to balance any suckage from the rest of the list's artists. I think I'm up to having bought 5 CDs this year, and all of them have been top. Reckon Terry Allen (the next purchase) will bring it to a full half-dozen. Bob
Re: Rusty Wier
At 4:06 PM -0500 on 4/7/99, Joe Gracey wrote: Christopher Adams wrote: "Stoned Slow and Rugged" from 1975 was one of the decade's best "outlaw country" LPs. It had great songwriting and good musical support, including Chris Hillman, Richie Furay, Herb Pedersen, and Rusty Young. One of the recordings that should be released on CD. Ole Rusty also wrote "Don't It Make You Want to Dance" which her majesty Bonnie Raitt made into a smash hit. I've knowed him since 1969 and we've had some memorable times together. I just wish somebody would help me remember what they were. Court cases are a matter of public record, Joe, even if police blotters aren't. So you'd probably only dig up the stuff you couldn't get out of... Bob
Re: hey, Chicago folks: 40K?
At 4:32 PM -0400 on 4/8/99, Dave Purcell wrote: Pardon the lack o' twang, but are any of my Chicago sistren and brethren familiar with 40K? The local arts weekly raves about them, and I'm wondering if I should chegemout tomorrow night. I'm not ignoring you, Dave, I just never heard of 'em. Doesn't mean much, as we know... Bob
Re: Fever (was: good covers)
At 10:32 AM + on 4/5/99, Ph. Barnard wrote: First Amy: Well, referencing Peggy Lee's "Fever" isn't going to win any points with me, as I don't love either the song or her toneless version of it. If this loses me major kitsch-cred points, that's fine with me. Then Ross: Well thanks, I guess, for pointing out to me that I'm just respondingly ironically to the faked sensations of artistic rubbish. How ever could I have thought I sincerely liked the song on its own merits? g Hey, I like the song too. Little Willie John's version is *terrific*, imho, etc. I once saw Don Dixon do a great version of it, too, accompanied only by himself on upright bass. But it's a tough song, considering how many versions of it are out there. Bob
Jon Dee Graham and the Gourds
After missing two Kelly Willis shows thanks to apartment hunting, it was a treat to see Jon Dee Graham tonight, all the moreso since the Gourds backed him the last half of his set. We hung around for six or seven songs of the Gourds' own set, so I can't say much there, but Graham already had a decent head of steam built up when the band wandered onto the stage, and he just had some fierce presence on that stage. I didn't get to buy his CDs (Trace ran into friends and we ended up chatting between sets -- and where were the other locals?) but they're on the list. Bob
Chicago's Margasak on Steve Del
STEVE EARLE THE DEL MCCOURY BAND at the Vic, March 25 By Peter Margasak The first few times I listened to "The Mountain," the new album Steve Earle recorded with the Del McCoury Band, I couldn't stop thinking what poor use he'd made of the group he himself calls the "best bluegrass band working today." Despite Earle's declared love for bluegrass and his close identification with Texas country-rock bards like Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, he's always played far more rock than country from his wonderfully bombastic 1988 breakthrough album, "Copperhead Road" to his 1996 comeback anthem "Feel Alright," his music consistently reveals his love for the real fist-pumping, roof-rattling stuff. And while the best rock and the best bluegrass do share a certain intensity, Earle's never been much for subtlety; against the onslaught of overamplified modern music, on the other hand, bluegrass's acoustic subtlety has become one of its greatest strengths. Last week, when Earle performed at the Vic with McCoury's virtuosic but restrained band -- singer and guitarist Del; his sons, mandolinist Ronnie and banjoist Rob; fiddler Jason Carter; and bassist Mike Bub -- this schism occasionally became very apparent. During "Dixieland," a Pogues-ish tune from the new album, Earle let out a hearty whoop that seemed like a plea for the sort of cheap, instant kick in the ass only a rock band can deliver; he went ungratified. And when he played a handful of his best-known tunes by himself in the middle of the show, he bludgeoned the chords more than he strummed them, substituting sheer force for suitable accompaniment. But by the end of the three-hour concert, throughout which the group huddled cooperatively around a single multidirectional mike, I'd come to think of the experiment as a success for Earle, if not entirely for McCoury and his band. For the most part Earle was able to lead the ensemble from within, and the McCoury gang did trade in some of its cool virtuosity for raw energy. This isn't the first time Earle has explored more traditional music. In 1995, after serving a brief sentence for crack possession, he cut the all-acoustic "Train a Comin'" with guitarist Norman Blake, bassist Roy Huskey Jr., and mandolinist Peter Rowan -- the progressive former Bill Monroe sideman whom Earle credits as his mentor in bluegrass basics. But Earle was more or less revisiting his own troubadour roots: he may have been surrounded by accomplished pickers. but he was hardly on unfamiliar turf. On "The Mountain," penned mostly by Earle and arranged mostly by Ronnie McCoury, Earle admits that he was attempting to "write just one song that would be performed by at least one band at every bluegrass festival in the world long after I have followed Mr. Bill [Monroe] out of this world." But his songs are still driven by his impulse to rock, and at times the McCoury band seems to be blandly vamping behind him. During the all-too-brief set the group played by itself at the Vic, the music took on a luxurious buoyancy that it never quite recaptured on the more driving collaborative numbers. The phrase "high lonesome" has been applied so many times to bluegrass singing that it doesn't mean much anymore, but when Del McCoury opens his yap the definition snaps right back into focus. When his band did Bill Monroe's gospel gem "Get Down on Your Knees and Pray," long a staple of its live sets, the gorgeous four-part harmonies sent shivers down my spine. Still, when Del sang with Earle on the new album's "Carrie Brown," he tapped into something much more urgent and natural. It wasn't sublime, like "Get Down," but there was an immediate, ragged glory in McCoury's voice that I'd never heard there before. Earle didn't give as much as his counterparts but he sure seemed to enjoy playing with them. He did his darnedest to get his fans to listen to the McCourys, but by three or four tunes into their set, many of Earle's fans were talking loudly. Their attention was recaptured when Earle, solo, hauled out warhorses like "I Ain't Ever Satisfied," "Hillbilly Highway" and The Devil's Right Hand," to which they happily bellowed the words even though Bade himself looked utterly bored. I don't think Earle's about to embark on a bluegrass career, but when he was playing with the McCoury band, he gave some of his most spirited performances since his first shows out of rehab. Bob
Re: Sapnkers dates
At 9:43 PM -0500 on 4/1/99, Moran/Vargo wrote: Yeah, and they just happen to jump right over Philadelphia as well. g But two nights in Pittsburgh! And two in Chicago! They were great (if amplified) at a brief outdoor show this past summer, and I'm looking forward to seeing them in their natural habitat without electricity. I'll definitely be at Schuba's Thursday night if anyone else'll be there. Bob
Re: Kelly Willis article in Nashville Scene
At 1:59 PM -0800 on 4/1/99, Don Yates wrote: At this point, Willis has left her early rockabilly influences behind. In search of a more mature sound, she has chosen to record songs about searching for love, for identity, for a reason for being. I'll heave a Tom Ekeberg Memorial Sigh here. Bob
Re: More Mandy (was RE: PLAYLIST: Fear Whiskey 3/29/99
At 9:03 AM -0800 on 4/1/99, Don Yates wrote: I'll take a stab at this. Was it Hank Williams, Jr.? What do I win? You are correct! Proving that Mandy has infinitely better taste than all those kneejerk alt-country Bocephus-bashers.g Well, do you think Hank Jr.'s current work is as good as the stuff he released through the '70s to the mid '80s? That was a pretty long period of sustained good releases. He's quite the caricature of that, though, these days. Bob
Re: Welfare Music
At 12:21 PM -0600 on 4/1/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thanks for posting that Marie. Here's a clip from the Bottlerockets interview that ties in with some of what's been discussed here lately, I think. g Yeah, well, this is why this Big Tent approach just doesn't work. At its best, it just ghettoizes everything. BTW, I took the liberty of formatting the article and pasting it in underneath. If anyone has any stuff from the Web that isn't really time-sensitive and they don't want to format it for e-mail themselves, I'd be happy to. Takes two or three minutes. b. WM: You don't like roots rock I take it. BH: Oh, I love roots rock, it cracks me up. The whole idea of singling it out and naming it something to insure it never gets on the radio cracks me up. WM: So you are a lot like Jay and the other artists ... you don't want to be pigeonholed. BH: It was a really good name to kill everything. Ok lets call it alternative country. Look at that. Look at the breadth of the stuff that's in there. So if you happen to be an alternative country band with a rock song such as... Like I told you the other night, if Exile on Main Street were to be made today, it would be considered alternative country. So it ain't gonna get on the radio. It will never happen. They'll never listen to it cause it'll be brought to them as alternative country and it wont go. Not on big radio. Big radio sucks. WM: So, you don't think that you guys and Wilco and Son Volt will ever become radio friendly to the point of stardom, wealth, etc? BH: Well, Son Volt, Wilco, Uncle Tupelo have been working at it for over 10 years now. WM: Consciously, do you think? BH: Not consciously, but still you know, they have been drifting around as the icons, the upper echelon. And they've been doing it since 88. Maybe its time to reevaluate. It's been 11 fucking years and no one's had the big breakout hit yet. Tom Parr: Played a lot of college frat parties. All the roots rockers.. it took them years to get deals. BH: We're doing this new album, it's gonna be called alt country, I guarantee it. Then you have bands like the Derailers. WM: Do you like their music? BH: Yeah, I like the Derailers. That's great, but it's a confusing single label to put on the whole thing. WM: What do you think of the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences having a category called Contemporary Folk for their Grammy awards, and then nominating Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, Wilco/Bragg EmmyLou Harris in that category? BH: So they're Contemporary Folk now (laughs). What that's gonna do is place these artists way in the back of record stores. I know that cause I went looking for the Lucinda album. I asked the guy at the store, where is it? Well, you go back there, turn left, it's in the back of the store. WM: Ok, so you don't want to be labeled. How would you describe your music to someone who doesn't know you? BH: I would just say, it's a straight up rock band with a guy that unfortunately has a bit of a country accent singing. So that's it.
Re: Attention ex-Bostonians == WMBR Available via theInternet!
At 8:42 AM -0500 on 3/31/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Although there are many great shows at the station, those of most interest to P2ers would be Wed 6-8am, Debbie Does Dallas; Sat 8-10am, Lost Highway; and 10-noon, Backwoods. These are all EST timeslots. Good to hear, Kate, but all of these are before I'm up! Hell, that Debbie show is on just after bedtime. Now, if they can start archiving shows... Bob
Re: your worst fears realized
At 6:28 PM -0400 on 3/31/99, Jon E. Johnson wrote: Yeah, I remember when I used to think the same thing about the Boston Globe. "The Globe? Make up stories? It'll never happen" Oh, we were innocent then! We had a song in our hearts and a spring in our step! Have any reporters made anything up, or is it limited to columnists? Bob
Re: Touring/Live
At 11:14 PM -0500 on 3/28/99, Jeff Wall wrote: At 09:54 PM 3/28/99 -0600, you wrote: At 11:34 AM -0500 on 3/28/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I don't think drummers should ever drink during or before gigs. They totaly suck when they do and tend to drool alot. I see why Prellboy switched to guitar. He still sucks and drools a lot. But at least he tried. It means he knows there's a better life out there somewhere. Bob
Re: Upcoming Hadacol Dates
At 9:02 AM -0800 on 3/29/99, Jeff Weiss wrote: Hadacol was one of the real surprises for me at SXSW. Twangy, rocking, energetic, above average songs, connecting with the audience. They won that crowd over. I had plan to stay for a few songs, but got sucked into the vortex of fun. I picked up the CD last week and really got caught up in it. Can't wait to see them live. (It's one of those rare bands Tracy and I agree on, too.) Bob
Re: Better Live?
At 3:29 PM -0500 on 3/29/99, Steve Gardner wrote: While I have some sympathy for Steve's POV, I'd like to add that there are fine songs out there that simply sound superior in-studio. I didn't say every live recording is better than every studio recording. Steve Earle's, for instance, is far inferior to everything he's done since. I just think that on average, I like live recordings better. If I'm gonna buy a CD blind, it's gonna be the live one. Another great thing about a live album as a first purchase is that it also serves as kind of a best of. I'm with you, Steve. I've got a lot of live (officially released, of course) CDs and LPs from groups whose studio releases I'm just not interested in. In a perfect world, we wouldn't have this ass-backward situation where people go into studios, and we wouldn't have audiences expecting musicians to do things they can't do. I'd like to think that if the Lomaxes' field recordings had outsold Ralph Peer's hotel room recordings, everything would be recorded live and we'd have real documents of what musicians and bands were capable of, not what they wish they were. (Not that I'm so naive that I think officially released live recordings are virgin, of course. I had to buy Jerry Jeff Walker's video of his Gruene Hall show because the CD had more studio musicians than stage musicians.) Bob
Re: Upcoming Hadacol Dates
At 6:51 PM -0500 on 3/29/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I dunno, JeffMoM and Mr. Soron like it, but I kinda thought it was too much of a generic ND/Tweedy knock off. Can you have too much of a good thing? Bob
Re: Touring/Live
At 11:34 AM -0500 on 3/28/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I don't think drummers should ever drink during or before gigs. They totaly suck when they do and tend to drool alot. I see why Prellboy switched to guitar. Bob
Re: Steve 'n' Del
At 8:49 PM -0600 on 3/26/99, Kelly Kessler wrote: I saw the instore today, and besides enjoying it thoroughly, I came away with new respect for Del's ego. The crowd was totally into the McCourys - no problem there - but he spends a great deal of time hanging around in the back while Steve handles guitar chores and sings songs that could use IMO a little high harmony. Yeah, yeah, I know this is bringing Del's music and *bluegrass as a whole* to new audiences, blah, blah, blah, but the man's a front man, and I respect his equanimity in hanging back and letting the others have the show for a whole tour. Many others would be champing at the bit. I assumed it was because bluegrass is typically arranged for five. I have to admit, last night my favorite part of the show (aside from, as Mr. Knaus has already observed, my correcting Steve on the original alt.country) was the way Del kept edging farther into the wings with every song. He finally made his getaway. Bob
Re: Steve 'n' Del
At 12:10 AM -0500 on 3/27/99, Jeff Wall wrote: At 10:42 PM 3/26/99 -0500, you wrote: Those of you who have seen the tour elsewhere, what type of reception is Del getting? Last night is wasnt so hot. From where I was sitting at the show's stop in Durham, it seemed that most of the crowd was there specifically to see Del. Not only did he receive quite a reception (one guy even yelled at Steve and the rest to bring Del out during the opening set), but I also spent much of the intermission explaining to neighbors who Steve Earle is. Now that's the way it's supposed to be. Look at what Del has done for Steve, that no one else has ever been able to get him to do Put on a suit, and cut his hair. Steve may be getting a bigger reception in some places, but I'd be willing to bet that Steve knows who the big kahuna is. I'm impressed by Steve's G Run. Del has taught him well. That Del McCoury is deserving of Sainthood if you ask me. He sure looks like a preacher. When he doesn't look like Steve Martin, anyway, which as Tom Mohr pointed out, is always. Last night, the best-dressed guy on stage was the roadie. Seriously. Bob
Re: Steve 'n' Del
At 10:37 AM -0600 on 3/26/99, Christopher M Knaus wrote: Earle "Bluegrass is the original alt.country" Soron "Western Swing!" I only wish I'd been willing to stand in line for an hour today to say it to him in person. It ain't *my* fault he's uneducated. Now that he's getting his bluegrass jones out of his system maybe someone like the Hag can sit down with him and straighten him out. Bob
Dennis McGuire is alive and well
Someone (Dave?) asked about him recently -- Dennis turned up at Steve and Del's instore today. (Said he walked past me last night at the Vic, but I was too deep in another conversation to interrupt.) He's doing well and should soon have a new email address -- he changed jobs and his new work email setup wasn't robust enough for P2's demands. Once his home cable modem is set up, he says he'll try to get back on the list. But in the meantime, he said to say hey. Bob
For Elliott Smith fans, from the Boston Globe
Tunesmith to the miserable By Joan Anderman, Globe Correspondent, 03/26/99 Elliott Smith is not a junkie. He's not desperately messed-up, at least not any more than anyone else. He claims to have written a happy song, and believes that his music seems a bit darker than most because for one thing, he doesn't have a band, and for another, he wouldn't dream of singing contrived lyrics that don't mean anything to him. So explains the singer-songwriter on the phone from his hotel room in Nashville, a recent stop on a national tour that will bring him to the Roxy in Boston Monday. "For a while it seemed like everyone was asking me why I was so depressed. But I can't do anything about what people read into the songs. If people are constantly going to be putting someone under a microscope, then that person is either going to quit what they're doing, or get good at not being bothered by it." Still, it's not hard to see why Smith has been cast in the role of tunesmith to the downtrodden alt-crowd. His records are filled with unflinching, emotionally raw portraits of drug addicts and alcoholics, and spare, poetic sketches of self-loathing and decayed love. Gorgeously tragic words are melded to melodies that are as simultaneously lush and forthright, and as inevitable-sounding, as those crafted by Smith's great inspiration, the Beatles. Smith sings in a wispy, fragile voice; on his most recent album, "XO," he thickens the sensitive-misfit-and-his-guitar aesthetic with piano and strings, drums, and chamberlain. The album is a triumph of bittersweet pop poetry, and wound up on countless Top Ten lists (including this writer's) for 1998. "At first I thought of it as storytelling. It's never seemed confessional to me, but that's what people call me," says Smith, a soft-spoken 29-year-old. "I don't need people to understand what it is to be me. It's more like dreams ... pieces are me and pieces are other people and pieces are some character I'm making up." However blurred the line between experience and imagination may be, the product of Smith's craft is extraordinarily precise. Listening to the songs is as lonely and solitary an endeavor as the lives his characters lead. Even the instrumental embellishments of "XO" - which might easily have cluttered the bleak emotional landscape Smith painted with stark arrangements on three previous albums - lend a powerful grace to Smith's narratives. "Some people who really like stripped-down music were like, 'Hey, why'd you have to go and pile on all this crap. You should have just played the songs,"' recalls Smith, who recently moved from Portland, Ore., to Brooklyn. Previously on the Olympia, Wash.-based Kill Rock Stars label, Smith was signed last year to DreamWorks, which released "XO." But he insists that high-profile corporate backing and its reciprocal demands had nothing to do with the fleshed-out sound of "XO," but rather everything to do with growing as a musician. "It's sort of boring to do the same thing over and over that you already know you can do. For me, it was a new thing to try and use more instruments, even though it makes it sound more normal in a way. A lot of times when people use strings, for example, they turn out sappy and sentimental. That just makes it more fun to try to use strings in a way that's better than that. I like being in an area where things are discredited, and to try to put life into it." Even as a child, Smith found himself drawn to the cracks that rend a polished surface, preferring a skewed musical angle over the smooth flow of a song. With time, he's learned the power of merging the two. "When I was a kid my favorite thing about songs was when they would change from one part to another," says Smith, who began writing songs when he was 13. "So I would make up all of these transitions and put them together. They were really linear and phosphorous, and didn't repeat enough to be songs. They had lots of chords. Too many. But I learned a lot about transitions." To wit, Smith's favorite Beatles song is the epically twisted "A Day In The Life." His fondest memory - and this tells you a lot about Smith's subject matter - is of when he started going out with his ex-girlfriend. Smith's songs are so painfully wistful one has to wonder if the songwriter sees them as a way of reaching out, or if the process is rather one of retreat from a world that supplies such tragic fodder. "That's something I've actually thought about quite a bit," muses Smith. "I've come to no conclusion. It's something I've done for so long it's just kind of built in." What of the music fan who derives deep pleasure, such a good feeling, after all, from such sad songs? "I think when people feel bad they often lose touch with reality, and they think they're unique in a bad way. So then they hear these songs, and it's like when you get upset and you talk to your friends so that someone can go 'this happened to me, too.'" With a figurehead as eloquent as Smith speaking
Re: Wilco's summerteeth
At 11:53 PM -0500 on 3/24/99, Bob Burns/Big In Iowa wrote: Is anybody else as tired as I am of hearing about how Wilco never settles into one specific style? No, and I'm still even more open to wondering why they don't do any of them well. So what! If Wilco recorded a Polka record it would sound like Wilco playing Polka. From Jimmy Sturr to Brave Combo, there's tons of bands that can do it well now; we don't need one that doesn't do anything else well doing that badly too. Not many bands can do that. Indeed. I can name one. What's wrong with experimenting? Didn't the Beatles do that their whole career? And often succeeded, which gives them one up. Speaking of the Beatles, I could definitely hear the Lennon/McCartney influences on this record! I'll admit, this isn't your typical Wilco. Is anything "typical Wilco"? At least it's not what I expected. But I love it! I don't claim to be a music critic (I just write songs) so I'm not going to break the album down for you piece by piece, but my god what a cool new fresh sounding CD from Wilco. Buy it now!!! I swore Jeff Tweedy would never get another cent of my money. So far, I've succeeded, no small feat in the town he lives in. (I didn't know he was opening for Patti Smith, I swear. We only saw a song and a half.) If his experimentation tickles you, you're ahead of the game. I stopped playing, myself. Bob
Re: Wilco's summerteeth
At 2:46 AM -0500 on 3/25/99, Bob Burns/Big In Iowa wrote: Bob, Well, I said I wasn't going to break down Wilco's new record piece by piece. Obviously you didn't feel the same way about my message. Bob, It was late and I couldn't sleep. But hey, y'gotta watch out with that polka stuff. Seriously, I should have thrown a couple of gs in there, but hey, it was late and I couldn't sleep. I do think that there's a few threads in it -- particularly seeing if there's a consensus on how far bands can veer from their "original" sound and still retain their fan base but for one thing, I've never liked Wilco, so I wouldn't be much use in that thread, and also, these days we'd probably hear this snarl that it's off-topic. But I'm sure not saying you're wrong. I just mean that, as much as your viewpoint is a corrective to detractors like me, the flip side's also true. Bob
Re: Cigar Store Indians
At 9:19 AM -0500 on 3/25/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Has anyone ever seen this band perform? What did you think? Didn't like the CD, thought they were pretty good live though. Worth checking out. Bob
Re: Ray's Tokin, obviously For the Good Times
At 10:37 AM -0600 on 3/25/99, Joe Gracey wrote:
Mike Hays wrote:
Oh dear! From "People Online" 3/24/99:
* ARRESTED: Grammy Award-winning country singer Ray Price ("For the
Good
Times"), on a marijuana charge, near his Texas ranch. He was charged
with
possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia and fined $700.
yeah boy, they got 'em another criminal that time. I can't believe I am
reading this in 1999.
The local paper yesterday noted that pot busts have been more numerous
under the Clinton administration than under the Nixon administration.
The "If you don't vote you can't complain" folks have themselves to
blame.
Bob
Re: glass houses:(was Re: boot me baby, but don't sell it)
At 10:57 AM -0600 on 3/25/99, Joe Gracey wrote:
Let me try to explain my vehemence regarding this subject...
I produced an album with Stevie Ray Vaughn and Lou Ann Barton- two,
actually, in 1979. Stevie and I parted ways when he went to Epic and I
handed over every single one of my tapes to his manager. I didn't keep
dubs or copies or nuthin' because I loved Stevie and I didn't want the
bad karma of the temptation of a bootleg hanging over me.
Now some dick-weed has bootlegged MY stevie sessions and pressed them
and is selling them, apparently using a copy of MY mastering that I had
given to Stevie and the band to approve.
I cannot tell you how angry this makes me. I have no tolerance for this.
Not only is Stevie's estate being robbed here, but I and the band are
being screwed as well.
Joe, that really sucks, and I'm behind everything you say. I've got no
use for this sort of thing myself. I have heard that in the case of the
one unreleased album I own, the artist (someone you've known for a long
time, and that should make it pretty obvious) was very frustrated at
the label's decision not to release it and made copies pretty liberally
available. Now, if that's true, hindsight doesn't help him much if he's
changed his mind since then. If that isn't true but some after-the-fact
rationalization cooked up by people in a position to know him down
there, let me know. (And while this isn't any consolation on any sort
of basis, my copy isn't good enough quality to trade to anyone else
anyway.)
It also sounds like someone -- either Stevie or his manager, perhaps --
may have considered the tapes a souvenir at some point, something to be
given as a gift rather than property in which many had not only a
financial but also an emotional stake. It would only be just for that
snake's skin to be turned into boots. g
Trading of concert tapes is a different thing, although as an artist I
feel that I should have control over whether sub-par performances get
out. Kimmie and I never sign releases prior to a show, only after we
view the results, and if anybody were to ask about taping I just say
"send me a copy of it and we'll talk about it" because in truth, an
artist deserves and in fact owns the right to all performances. Because
music or spoken word are ephemeral rather than concrete, there is an
underlying feeling that they are less "owned" by the artist. This leads
to all sorts of abuse, ranging from terrible shows passed around to laws
passed by Congress taking away royalties for commercial use of
copyrighted music. I view it as a matter of degree and intent- if you
love somebody enough to want to tape them and trade tapes with other
fans, great, but give the artist the courtesy of saying yes or no. If
you are selling the artist's image or work without consent or royalty
agreements, then you are stealing property.
I do have stuff I would never trade because I know the artist wouldn't
want it to be traded. Obviously, this implies there were folks further
up the chain who weren't so worried about that. I can't be responsible
for them, but I can try to have some ethics myself. Since I don't tape
shows myself (as I told one person offlist, this is pragmatic -- I'm
there to have fun, not to attend to the logistics of hidden recording
equipment), I'm a pretty small fish in a pretty big pond.
But I do want to suggest, and this isn't to contradict a single thing
you say, that there can be a disparity between what the performer and
the fan considers a terrible show. Let's take, purely for the sake of
argument, Kimmie. I've lived in two pretty good music towns, I've been
a fan since '90 ("Angels Get the Blues"). I still didn't see y'all
until last year's Twangfest. Now, I know that isn't from a lack of
trying on your part, but it still worked out that way. Now, that set
was a really fine one, and would have been even without the Magic Feet
of Tom Ekeberg, but even if you folks had thought it was a tough one, I
figure I would have been pretty happy. Now, I don't own a tape of the
set or any of the TF sets (I was counting on the official live tape,
RIP), but again, to bring it back to general terms, if there's someone
whose work I've enjoyed for a long long time and after many years I get
to see them and I end up with the opportunity to have a souvenir of
that moment, I'll want one. Again, I do respect the wishes of folks who
don't want it traded, but for myself? Sure.
Bob
Re: Wilco's summerteeth
At 12:00 PM -0600 on 3/25/99, William F. Silvers wrote: Bob Soron wrote: I swore Jeff Tweedy would never get another cent of my money. So far, I've succeeded, no small feat in the town he lives in. (I didn't know he was opening for Patti Smith, I swear. We only saw a song and a half.) If his experimentation tickles you, you're ahead of the game. I stopped playing, myself. Hmm, let's see. Somebody new gets on the list and, having actually listened to the record, has some positive stuff to say about the new Wilco record. The uninformed response is "I hate Jeff Tweedy" times six. Now *that's* analysis. Well, now, I don't want to turn this into Postcard, but I think this is a useful distinction: I don't hate Tweedy, I hate his work. And it isn't an uninformed opinion; I've seen him in concert a bunch of times (Wilco and Golden Smog only; by the time I'd heard of Uncle Tupelo, they were touring with Michelle Shocked, whom I dislike even more, and yes I've seen her too, and that's most of the reason). Bought the records, saw the shows. Every piece of work he's done has interested me less than the last. At this point, I think that declaring I'm not much interested in his work is not an uninformed opinion. (And I need to say: I've got no problem with him, or anyone else, being a chameleon. I think he projects his stage personae very well. They're personae I'm not interested in, though.) I sure hope I didn't put Bob In Iowa off -- Bob, if I did, I'm sorry. (And with Prellboy and Weisberger both vouching for you, I'm looking forward to hearing you someday.) But Wilco -- no different from many bands here, in our genre and not -- started out with a certain sound and attitude that created expectations for a lot of people. The thread, to me, comes down to, how far can a band drift from its original sound before it just starts to drive those original fans away? Wilco's a great example and timely enough to be worth discussing. As I said in that penultimate sentence quoted above, if some fans like the experimentation, they're ahead of the game. It isn't that there's nothing wrong with it; it's that they're better off for it, as I say there. But this isn't a zero-sum game; folks who didn't like the new stuff as much as the old don't lose their right to complain, criticize, or sulk. Frankly, my investment in the band was so low to begin with that I'm more interested in the general issues than the specific. Im my defense on my tone, and I guess I should have said this in my reply to Bob, he did note that it wasn't indepth, so it's difficult to expect me to do so. On both sides, it was just another "Tastes great/less filling" call and response. And if it had been indepth, I probably would've deleted it without reading for reasons that have nothing to do with him and everything to do with Wilco. Lemme know Bob, I'll dub ya a free copy. This is the bravest thing ever said on list during two simultaneous antibootlegging threads. Um, that's OK, Bill. g (but seriously, too) Bob
Re: Ray's Tokin, obviously For the Good Times
At 1:21 PM -0800 on 3/25/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote a fanciful interview transcript that ended: Let me add, though, that I fully support our troops in Yugoslavia, and if I wasn't a card-carrying atheist, I'd be praying for their safe return. I know you're joking by taking this to its extreme, Jon, but as an atheist, I wouldn't pray for their safe return either. I'd just want them to return safely. (And I'm not a Commie or a pimp.) Bob
Re: Ray's Tokin, obviously For the Good Times
At 12:59 PM -0800 on 3/25/99, stuart wrote:
Bob Soron wrote:
At 10:37 AM -0600 on 3/25/99, Joe Gracey wrote:
Mike Hays wrote:
Oh dear! From "People Online" 3/24/99:
* ARRESTED: Grammy Award-winning country singer Ray Price ("For the
Good
Times"), on a marijuana charge, near his Texas ranch. He was charged
with
possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia and fined $700.
yeah boy, they got 'em another criminal that time. I can't believe I am
reading this in 1999.
The local paper yesterday noted that pot busts have been more numerous
under the Clinton administration than under the Nixon administration.
The "If you don't vote you can't complain" folks have themselves to
blame.
Bob
Could this possibly be partly due to the budgetary incentives the
prosecutorial machine now has in drug arrests.
No question. Also, the prison industry has become big business. I don't
have stats handy, there's a lot of big money behind all this prison
construction; the article I read yesterday focused on the phone
companies. It does put a nice spotlight on the answer to the question
"Does America have political prisoners?"
Bob
Re: Wilco's summerteeth
At 2:18 PM -0600 on 3/25/99, William F. Silvers wrote: Bob Soron wrote: Well, now, I don't want to turn this into Postcard, but I think this is a useful distinction: I don't hate Tweedy, I hate his work. Point taken. I was guilty of imprecision there. A fine point it is, but like I say, we've already got a Postcard. I'm not a "Wuv Jay / Dump Jay" kinda guy, and that's the juxtaposition I reflexively have when I see the L or H words. There is, I'll grant, a fairly rich P2 tradition of criticism based on track record and press clippings as opposed to what the records themselves actually sound and "read" like, (lyrically that is) but it's one I've never cottoned to or found particularly meaningful or interesting. I'm from the "Doctor, doctor, it hurts when I do this" school. I've stopped doing this. And in my own defense, when a band can maintain a level that makes me think they're going to be interesting someday, I do keep spending that money in the hopes that finally this will be the one that doesn't hurt. But I think a track record of declining interest in both forms -- live and recorded -- means it's time to change trains, along with metaphors. Otherwise, you end up having to listen to everything just in case it might be good. I'm not utterly ignorant of the new one, though I probably wouldn't recognize it if I heard it, FWIW, having come across a track or two in a store and on the radio. While I'll grant that Big In Iowa/Cincy Bob (as opposed to big in Boston/Chicago Bob) didn't fill several screens with his analysis of SUMMERTEETH, he raised a worthwhile point about "experimentation" and fans response to it, and added that his response to the new record was positive. Forgive me for not finding any point in your initial response but "less filling." Fair enough. As I say, I should have sprinkled some gs in there, because rereading it this morning my goofy insomniac mood really didn't wander into the call-response stuff. And the offer stands...g And when I say, "Doctor, it hurt," your response will be? g No, seriously, it's taken me this long to listen to stuff I bought before I moved. (The stack of CDs I haven't listened to still goes back that far, but it's about half the size it was a couple of weeks ago, thanks to unemployment.) I know I tend not to like pop, having heard it most of my life, and if a band I tend not to like decides to experiment with a sound I tend not to like, I don't reckon they're going to cancel out. But if you want to donate that tape to the TF Auction, someone might take you up on it. Bob
RE: ISO digital Todd Snider Blue Mt. trades
At 10:29 AM -0800 on 3/24/99, Hill, Christopher J wrote: And - unless the artist AND venue have come out as tape-friendly - I doubt someone would risk losing their MiniDisc recorder by asking a performer for permission, so it'll remain an underground pursuit. There's a list of taper-friendly performers on the Web; it also includes any conditions they set. I don't have a URL, but it's posted at many sites; searching for something along the lines of "tape" and "trade" and "permission" should nail it pretty quickly. Bob
Re: boot me baby, but don't sell it
At 2:09 PM -0500 on 3/24/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Someone right now is selling t-shirts for $20 plus postage of a live concert shot of Todd. They are calling it the "unofficial Todd Snider T-shirt"... Were I working with Todd, I might inquire to this guy about buying out the stock at $17 or $18 a pop and then selling them at gigs and over the Web for $22 or so. I'm not saying the guy should be doing this. I'm saying that he sounds like he can be co-opted pretty easily. Bob
RE: majordomo/listproc change in P2?
At 2:30 PM -0600 on 3/24/99, Ferguson, Dan wrote: And the digest is now an email with an attachment for each seperate email in the digest. In other words 52 attachments for today. Not so bad considering this was a slow P2 day. The thought of a digest with upwards of 150 attachments scares me, though. steve 150 attachments is damn scary. Hopefully this is only a temporary thing. Anyone care to shed any light on it? Listmeister?? It would certainly explain why he's been so damned cranky for so long. g Bob
Re: glass houses:(was Re: boot me baby, but don't sell it)
At 5:19 PM -0500 on 3/24/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: so now that i've been beaten up for my views on bootlegging, am i to assume that all those that have had a dissenting view point in one form or another have never purchased, or even traded for, such an item? just curious... In one of those wonderful coincidences, exactly a year ago tomorrow, one of the anti-bootleggers in the thread sent me mail offlist noting that he had acquired a fair number of bootlegs in the course of things, but doesn't mention it because the times he has, he was swamped with requests for copies, and there are sometimes other reasons for being cagey. Beyond the paraphrase, I won't reproduce private mail, of course, or disclose the identity. But yes, at least one person seems to be playing both sides of the fence. Bob
Chicago: When are Steve and Del at Borders?
I've heard two reports that Earle McCoury are at Borders tomorrow (Thursday) at 1 PM for an instore. But just today comes a note from someone who says the unofficial Earle page lists the instore on Friday. Anyone able to pin this down? Bob
Re: CSRF - SXSW
At 11:42 PM -0600 on 3/22/99, Christopher M Knaus wrote: My one regret (other than the miserable hangover) is I didnt get to as many new (to me) bands as I wanted to - as Alex mentioned "We might as well be in Chicago" You didn't miss much, but the Peter Rowan/Tony Rice show Saturday night was really fine. Marred only by the MC who came on right after the encore to tell us that Hot Rize picker Charles Sawtelle was off life support. But everything before that (including Danny Barnes' opening set) was mighty good. Best part: No Deadheads, who swarm Rowan's Boston shows. One thing that surprises me was that NO ONE went to see Terry Allen, who performs a *little* more often than Tom Waits. If I'd gone, that would have been the only must-see show. But Steve will post tour plans, I know... Bob
Re: Charles Sawtell-RIP
At 11:01 AM -0500 on 3/21/99, Stick wrote: From Bluegrass-L very sad. I am very sad to inform you that Charles Sawtelle died Saturday night at 8pm Pacific Time. Indeed. Last night I saw Peter Rowan and Tony Rice with a couple other semi-P2ers; at the beginning Rowan dedicated the set to Sawtelle, and received an appreciative, small hand. After the encore, the MC, from a local college station, came out and announced that it was an appropriate dedication because he'd just received word that Sawtelle had just been taken off life support. I hope Rowan and Rice didn't find out by overhearing that. An unfortunate end to the evening, and unfortunately handled to boot. (The night only went downhill from there, as we learned this morning that when some guy bumped into Tracy last night, he got her wallet.) Bob
Re: There's a whole album worth of material in this clip
At 8:59 PM -0500 on 3/16/99, Phil Connor posted a clip that started: Gwen Shamblin is 5ft 4in, 7st 11lb, and an American size six - but it's not down to slimming pills. Well, fine, but is she related to Eldon? Bob
RE: Tweedy @ Salon, Kelly Willis
At 1:40 PM -0500 on 3/17/99, Matt Benz wrote: I'm also kinda disappointed with Kelly Willis' release. I guess I was hoping for something more along the lines of "Kelly Willis," a harder country sound. This is too ...erm.americana for my tastes, at least some of it. Still, it is her voice, so I'll live and still play it. Saw an old video of heres from the "Bang Bang" days in which she fully participates in one of them modern country videos. Yowza. Yeah. I bought it because it was $9 at Borders -- if you're going to patronize evil places, at least don't give 'em much -- and it struck me as a $9 record. Not that good, not that bad. I'm looking forward to seeing her in a couple of weeks, but I doubt the CD will go into any sort of rotation here. Maybe it'll grow on me... but probably not. And I damn near needed a crowbar to get it out of the damn plastic case. The reason those Rykodisc tines break is that they aren't made to move when you take out the CD. np - Bruce Robison, Wrapped, and maybe he should've had more influence on her CD, since this one's mighty fine... Bob
Re: Tweedy @ Salon
At 12:40 PM -0500 on 3/17/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Case in point: Last night I went to see a free gig in town by the V-Roys, who I thought were a great bar band, though they were batting about .500 on decent songs. But the crowd was a really roadhouse-country-rock-lovin' bunch, who wanted their roots as loud and straight-up and danceable as possible. Nothing wrong with that, of course. Since we don't get much of the V-Roys brand of twang this far north, I haven't seen a gathering like that at most shows here, and it was fun. But I was very doubtful about how eclectic that audience's tastes probably were. But, Carl, aren't you extrapolating from an admittedly anomalous situation? I have yet to see the V-Roys (I really wish I'd caught them a week or two ago; I got my dates mixed up) but I do like their CDs. Anyway, this is all thinking out loud here, but it sounds like there are two anomalies here: A twang band comes to town, and it has to meet the needs of a crowd that gets very little of that kind of music. Maybe they batted .500 because they had to bend a little to satisfy that crowd. And maybe the crowd wanted their roots loud, straight-up, and danceable because few bands like that come up that way, and if the V-Roys were there, it was more important to the crowd to get what it needed than to get what the V-Roys are best at doing. And maybe that crowd went home and the next day listened to Pet Sounds and Thriller and Minnie the Moocher and The Planets and Viva Terlingua. Maybe they just don't have the screaming need we do to talk about our eclecticism. You're probably closer than I am, of course, Carl, but I've seen that sort of situation back in Boston, including the audience members who didn't know much about the band but who knew what the band could do for 'em. Sometimes it worked out; sometimes it didn't... Bob
Re: Tweedy @ Salon
At 1:36 PM -0500 on 3/17/99, Dave Purcell wrote: Wilco, on the other hand, would get killed at a biker bar. Too bad they're too big to play 'em these days. g Bob
SXSW meets MP3 (from Wired News; LONG)
Broadcast.com: MP3 Will Die by Judy Bryan 3:00 a.m. 15.Mar.99.PST AUSTIN, Texas -- Mark Cuban sees no good reason for MP3 to be the format for delivering digital music. He thinks distribution, not content, will be king, that pay-per-view services will eclipse free downloads, and that in everything digital a little babe will lead us. In the next several years, "MP3 will die," Cuban said. "The rate of change is accelerating to create an Internet dominated by digital media in shapes and sizes we can't even imagine." Animated and glib, and wearing jeans and a black company T-shirt, the broadcast.com president delivered the keynote speech at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival, which runs through Tuesday. Cuban's slight southern accent betrayed his non-Silicon Valley roots. Broadcast.com is headquartered in Dallas. Despite its popularity, MP3 is here to be replaced, Cuban said. When an audience member remarked the recording industry and IBM were working out plans to use the codec, Cuban replied, "So what? Disco was a popular culture." And it died, too. People want audio off the Net, but MP3 is not the best delivery system for it, he said. One strike against the format, in Cuban's view, is that MP3 files are similar in size to streaming files, and the average person can't distinguish the difference in sound quality between an MP3 and a streaming file. "The [music industry's] marketing infrastructure will change," said Joe Cantwell, executive vice president of new media for Bravo Networks. "But the movement surrounding MP3, where artists can affect a greater sense of control over their work, will not change," Cantwell said. "The desperate and the successful are the ones who shape new markets." Cantwell used Chuck D as an example of an artist using his success to shape the new digital-music market. Five years ago Bravo's Independent Film Channel could have been counted among the desperate. Cantwell said the channel was launched by people who were passionate about building an audience for independent films. Although some folks laughed then, the channel has spawned a competitor, the Sundance Channel. David Pescovitz of MTV online said Cuban only said what others were thinking. "Someone had to be the first to say it," he said during a panel discussion Sunday afternoon. The Recording Industry Association of America has created a red herring in its campaign against piracy, Cuban said. Pirates are going to find a way to distribute illicitly, no matter what defenses companies create to safeguard music. "I'm a pirate, I'll pay US$11.98 and buy a CD, then copy it as much as I want to," he said. Cuban said companies that focus on thwarting pirates actually lose money. Protection and profits are practically mutually exclusive. "The more effort you spend protecting, the less effort you spend promoting and selling," he said. It's no surprise that the broadcast.com president would back streaming media -- it's his business. And, while he won't say whether broadcast.com has its eyes on RealNetworks, he predicted that someone -- probably a telco -- will buy buy the company, if for no other reason than to eliminate a competitor from the market. People want audio and video on the Net, Cuban said, and anyone who doesn't deliver it will be left in the dust. Content's reign is over, Cuban said. Content managers and distributors -- like broadcast.com -- will profit from content, not those who create it. Cuban has some interesting -- and conflicting -- ideas about digital distribution. He advocates the Grateful Dead approach of using content as a promotional tool: giving it away for nothing, and charging users for something else, a concert, in the Dead's case. So downloading will remain free, for the most part, Cuban said. But hosting Web sites will one day cost a lot. In an apparant paradox, Cuban said the best distributors will target niche audiences that are willing to pay for their passions, such as WCW wrestling fans, who pay Broadcast.com $5 to $10 to view matches they can't get or can't afford on cable. Cindy Cashman agreed with Cuban's prediction that a 15-year-old who doesn't want to do his homework will develop the next major media app. Her son, Erick Nelson, is a 17-year-old hacker who runs Cues.com, a site where users can design their own pool cues. "He's 17, but he's one of the geniuses [Cuban] talked about," she said. Nelson echoed Cuban's notion that pay-per-view is on its way as the Web's next big business model. "I think that if people want content enough they'll pay to see it, even if it's five frames per second and choppy," Nelson said. He and his peers are avid Net-video watchers, and he's working on a project that could employ the pay-per-view model. Bob
Junior's FCC note wasn't a hoax...
... but it was vague and late. It took a while to find some confirmation of this -- http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/18420.html -- but I didn't want to say anything until I had it. Although I'm glad Dave posted CIAC's hoax page URL, and everyone should check it out before sending out that sort of thing, it's also good to make sure it *is* a hoax before labeling it one. Sermon over. np - WNUR's blues show seguing into Southbound Train Bob
Re: Fragile Jewel Cases (and other packaging pet peeves)
At 4:54 PM -0500 on 3/12/99, Carl Abraham Zimring wrote: Excerpts from internet.listserv.postcard2: 12-Mar-99 Re: Fragile Jewel Cases (an.. by Bob [EMAIL PROTECTED] I always hated breaking the shrinkwrap off an LP because it required such precise use of a well-maintained fingernail, though... I found pocketknives handy for that task. Well, sure, Carl, they let you have pointy objects, but at that stage I was lucky to be getting the crayons once a week. g Bob
Re: Fragile Jewel Cases
At 5:48 PM -0500 on 3/12/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Me? I lucked out at Big Lots one time where they were selling jewel cases 4 for $1!! (I loaded up!). Also, I've seen lots (of 50-100) of jewel cases being hocked on ebay (of course)...and my local Disc Go Round franchise carries all sorts of pretty colors...but I'd recommend getting the "p2 discount" from Mr. Lavery ;) I've seen them as low as a dime apiece at the Micro Center in Boston. I haven't been there for a year and a half, of course, so I don't know if they still do that. The price isn't always available; it's an occasional special. I still have empty cases from the last time they had that special while I was there, though. Also, office supply stores carry them, and some of those chains have 155% price-match deals. Bob
Re: Terry Allen (was Re: Alejandro (was: need info)
At 5:36 PM -0800 on 3/12/99, Don Yates wrote: And here's an interesting contrast to the overly polite and artsy "roots rock" types: Terry Allen's an arty Texas singer-songwriter who also just happens to be thoroughly immersed in various roots styles. He does more than just name-check roots music greats in his publicity sheets (a la Bruton) -- his music is identifiably based in country, cajun, tex-mex, etc. There's also an edginess to his sound that's noticeably absent from that of the polite snooze-rock guys. His new album's definitely gonna make some folks uneasy, and others even downright mad. Titled Salivation, the album takes dead-aim at religion, skewering its hypocrisies with irony and irreverence while also demonstrating that Allen's lost none of his ability to tell a powerful tale. Terry Allen doesn't make background music, and thank god for that.--don I dunno, Don, juxtaposing Allen and McMurtry like this doesn't work for me. I haven't listened to the new Allen at all, not being a weasel g, and I've listened to the new McMurtry just once, yesterday in fact, and as background music, so there. Seriously, just as Allen's work is not all prime -- I think more highly of the two albums on the Sugar Hill twofer than I do of "Rollback," for example -- you can't point to a weaker McMurtry album and say, "Well, the guy's no Terry Allen." "Too Long in the Wasteland" is as strong now as it was then. I'd say that, allowing for Allen's decade-long head start, they've got about the same track record. To belabor the obvious just in case, I'm not saying McMurtry's as strong as Allen. I've traveled hundreds of miles to see Terry Allen; I catch McMurtry about half the chances I get. But I sure don't lump McMurtry in with background music or roots music for people without roots (which his first release addressed kind of critically, after all). Bob
Re: need Richard Buckner interview
At 12:27 AM -0500 on 3/12/99, Jim wrote: Hey Bob Soron or somebody else. Can you send me a private e-mail with the recent Buckner interview where he is so surly?? I've already trashed it. Mebbe someone else? ps -- I posted that SPIN review of Wilco a few days ago in the midst of my rant and neither Purcell nor anyone else seems to have noticed. Damn those kill files!! g I just thought it was a particularly intense deja vu. And since I have nothing nice to say about Wilco, I didn't say anything at all... g np - fetch with my cat Bob
Re: Fragile Jewel Cases (and other packaging pet peeves)
At 10:34 AM -0800 on 3/12/99, ldk wrote: Yep - Ryko is by far the worst in cd case/inner ring quality. I bet more than half my Ryko cds are busted inside. What I find amusing is that they priase their packaging as some patented special thing. They patented the use of the color. (It's a design patent, not a process patent.) And when I'm looking for something out on Ryko, they're pretty easy to find. I don't know what annoys me most - the broken cd case phenomena, the plastic wrapping frustration (opening it), the tearing off the bar code scanner sticker overlaying the cd, or the dreade dhidden bonus track that typically young bands think it's cool to do still, years after the technology is no longer novel. Having moved 1,000 miles recently, the *weight* bothers me. But so far as I can tell, there's nothing nice one can say about the plastic boxes. (I stopped saying "jewel cases" long ago. Considering the crap most of 'em enclose, the pretentiousness just takes on a new level.) Before my move, I came ohaboutthisclose to buying a bunch of those Case Logic 100-CD cases and transferring *everything* in there, but the booklets and back cards would have been too big a hassle. I always hated breaking the shrinkwrap off an LP because it required such precise use of a well-maintained fingernail, though... Bob
Re: Clip: Geek alert: Microsoft's challenge to MP3 format
At 11:10 AM -0800 on 3/12/99, Brad Bechtel passed along an article that said: Sources say the format will have a security feature built in, but reports are mixed as to MS Audio 4.0's e-commerce capability. Some believe the format will launch with commerce functions built in; others say it's not clear how far along Microsoft is with commercial applications. Very far, I'd say, considering the headlines Microsoft has made about its invasions of privacy this week. Every document created by their applications has information about the user and the user's system embedded in it, and that information is sent to microsoft.com. I'd say doing the same for an audio player would be child's play to the company. Bob
RE: Clip: Buckner interview from Willamette Weekly
At 4:52 PM -0500 on 3/11/99, Jon Weisberger wrote: People have started lumping you in with the alt-country genre. How do you feel about labels such as these? I think the No Depression [the 'zine] people use it to make money, to make a living, by lumping a bunch of shit together as if it's some sort of fucking movement. I don't like all that crud, and I try to avoid it as much as I can. Sweet. I hope ND and the rest of the crud return the favor. Likewise. And while Dave pointed out one of Buckner's idiocies, there were *plenty* in that interview -- the man really painted himself a fool. His 15 minutes must almost be up, I hope. Bob
Re: Pre-taped concerts(re:Shania spam and gossip)
At 12:00 AM -0500 on 3/10/99, vgs399 wrote: Some while ago there was some gossip going around which spoke of a piece of equipment which would instantaneously alter any off-pitch singing. There's Mac software that does this -- a friend in an a cappella group uses it for voice training. I'm sure the stuff that professionals use is much, much better, but this is pretty good at helping her find those notes when she practices. Bob
Re: RIP Stanley Kubrick
At 10:07 PM -0500 on 3/7/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: OTOH, I've seen 2001 countless times, far more than 100 certainly, last a restored widescreen print on the largest movie screen in Boston on my birthday. That film still never ceases to amaze me, and I still find stuff I've never seen before. Change all the pertinent info cited above appropriately and what you got here is a classic case of DeadHeaditis. Do you trade bootleg copies of 2001 with your friends? When they screen the movie in your neighborhood do they have a special section roped off for tapers? And how often do you shower? No, Dark Star is the scifi film for Deadheads. I saw it once and dozed off, though not as fast as Dr. Strangelove put me under. Okay, enough already. 100 times? Wow. But don't you wish you had some one piece of entertainment that had that effect on you? Baiting, Bob
Re: A Question
At 12:11 PM -0800 on 3/5/99, Cheryl Cline wrote: If they're not "alt country" or "alternative country" according to the UT/No Depression revisionism, er, I mean yardstick, then, we're back to the original problem being batted around back then (and when *did* this start, btw? Bob Soron?) [...] I had *nothing* to do with it. Ask Gracey, who was there whenever something good happened. Or someone old, like Barry or Wyatt. g np - Stubb's Blues Cookbook. Come to think of it, you probably had a finger or two in this, Joe? Bob
Re: Tweedy quote/alt.country (LONG and IRRITATED)
At 5:34 PM -0500 on 3/5/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Guess they didn't know about Joe Ely's tour with the Clash. UT was a decade too late. Yeah but, can't a decade too late also mean brand new to a new generation? Well, sure, if they've got no perspective. Asleep at the Wheel invented western swing, too. Bob
Whatever happened to Madeleine Peyroux?
Anyone got some dope? Bob
Re: A Question [Extremely LONG]
At 11:42 AM -0800 on 3/6/99, Cheryl Cline wrote: I'm askin' you! g. Of course Gracey is the one to ask, as he goes back To The Beginning of Time, what a maroon I am. It's just that back when I first got on the Net, reading rec.music.country.western, I remember you as being the one with the knowledge of all things Flatlanders. I reckon Joe could probably outdo me there too. g When I started seeking out like-minded twangsters, about this time, through Twangin', and later the Internet, the search for a name for the "what we mean when we point to it" music was already underway, and it referred to people like Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, Nanci Griffith, Tish Hinojosa, Rosie Flores, Dave Alvin and other, uh, "pre No Depression" musicians. Kevin Welch and Jimmie Dale Gilmore came up with "western beat," which Welch used for an album (and which Billy Block had been using for some time in L.A. for his showcases). That didn't take. Didn't Gavin start up the Americana charts about this time? Or was that a bit later? That name didn't stick either. I remember the Name Problem, but I didn't much pay attention at the time. I use pretty tightly defined nomenclatures, so that no matter what people might think I'm saying, I always know. And as a non-Big Tent-er, I don't use alt.country, No Depression, Americana, and other titles synonymously. So I'm probably much less help than you'd hoped. (I haven't got a clue as to chronology, either.) The thing is, there's this... reservoir of "alternative country" that has existed at least since bluegrass, the Original Alt.Country (TM) was invented. Well, not being a Big Tent adherent, I disagree that either of these are alternative in any way, but I think you're thinking of Western swing. g Bob
Re: Chicago Calendar
I dunno if these count as additions or changes or both, but this week's House of Blues ad says that Dick Dale is the 11th, not the 4th, which means I may be able to go out on my birthday after all. And the Metro's got some benefit going, including folks such as Langford, Escovedo, Fulks, Mavis Staples, and some less roots-oriented stuff. I think it's the same night that Devil in a Woodpile are headlining, but don't remember for sure. (The DiaW show starts late, while this benefit's early.) And that Wilco instore is also going to be broadcast on 'XRT, for those who'd rather have trading fodder. Bob
Re: Beantown Bound/Spurs
At 8:16 AM -0600 on 3/5/99, marie marie wrote: I think John was actually one of those non-dancers dancing at my last Spurs' show. I always complained that the men in Boston never danced. Well, they don't appear to dance in Nashville either. Hey, back in the day, I used to lose serious water weight out on the dance floor. Up until the last, folks like Sleepy LaBeef could get me out there for four or five hours. And I was hardly alone. You must've just been going to the wrong shows. Bob
Re: Recordable CD Players
At 10:16 AM -0800 on 3/5/99, Shawn Devlin wrote: I've been thinking about picking up a home CD Recordable unit. Does anybody out there own one, or have you heard of a particular brand/model that is supposed to be good? Does the quality vary alot between brands? Also, is there any audible difference between getting a home unit (stereo component) and buying one for a computer with the intent of duping music? You can read the huge FAQ at www.fadden.com/cdr. (If I've gotten that wrong, someone please say something.) I don't know if it has anything about the stereo component units, but I can't imagine there's much audible difference between those and CDRs for your computer. (Though that FAQ makes the point that the error correction algorithms may ensure that it never sounds the same way twice anyway.) I've got a Yamaha 4416 and like it quite a bit. Although it's a CDRW unit, it seems to have trouble with some CDRW blanks. But it's succesfully burned every normal CDR blank I've tossed into it, including generic cheapos. (You can't play CDRWs anyway -- they're only useful for backing up data, not for music.) Bob
Re: THE DRAGON'S ROAR (fwd)
At 11:18 AM -0600 on 3/2/99, David Cantwell wrote: (She's going to tackle "REAL CW and roots music"? Oh come on, won't this silly distinction ever be discredited? You lost me there, David. Country may be roots music, but not all roots music is country. Why's her distinction silly? Bob
Re: THE DRAGON'S ROAR (fwd)
At 12:20 PM -0600 on 3/2/99, David Cantwell wrote: You're right, Bob, about roots and country. But I was referring to the distinction between REAL and unreal. --david cantwell Well, but have you written this off as a question not worth exploring -- how far can a style be stretched and still be considered part of that style? Bob
Re: Hogan live on the air and in cyberspace
At 3:35 PM -0600 on 2/26/99, Jim Moran wrote: This can be heard live on the net at http://www.wnur.org A really fine set it was, too. Worth y'all heading over to the site to check it out. Bob
Re: Dixie Chicks stand up for what's right
On Fri, 26 Feb 1999, Jon Weisberger wrote: Courtesy of country.com... After being approached by TV's VH-1 about playing their video for "Wide Open Spaces," the Chicks declined because they were asked to get rid of the fiddles in the song. "You might as well just edit out the banjo and the steel guitar and make it a whole new song," they reportedly told the network. Of course, to an extent I'm playing devil's advocate here (a bit of a paradox for an atheist), but just imagine a response like, "You might as well just dump the lead singer and the Sam Cooke covers" a couple of years ago. Fanning old flames while I flog dead horses and mix metaphors, Bob
Re: The Eradication Game (Re: Grammyszzzzzzzzz....)
On Fri, 26 Feb 1999, John Kinnamon wrote: try to come up with an artist that all can agree should be eradicated from the earth, their history taken with them: Two words: Kenny G Why restrict it to artists? Two more encompassing words: "Lite" jazz. And a couple more: New age. Bob
Re: BB King (was: Grammyszzzzzzzzz....)
On Thu, 25 Feb 1999, Brad Morris wrote: Clapton was embarrassing, and are we sure he and BB even rehearsed? That was a pretty lamo blues performance all around. As stated elsewhere, Clapton/King was a mess. I liked the way each of them made a show about being deferential to each other while trying to get their licks in. Is it me, or is BB King mailing it in when he performs these numbers? I know that the man is an original, but he relies on that glissando lick (strike a note way up high on the neck and then slide quickly down in pitch) to excess these days. He does it before a solo, in the middle of a solo, at the end of the solo, prior to a verse, and as the final note of a song. Having a unique blues vocabulary is admirable, but this guy seems reduced to a single word or two. Part of me wants to say, "If I reach that age, I hope I can remember what 'mail' is." But that doesn't mean that I enjoyed that performance either. I recently finished King's autobiography, which had been on sale at Borders for $3.99. I think he could safely have left off at a "kiss and tell" book. One chapter is actually titled "Someone Asked Me About Oral Sex." To his credit, he changes the subject after four pages. Bob
Re: Blimey! - March's MOJO
At 8:08 PM + on 2/26/99, Louise Kyme wrote: *And* Scotty Moore is coming to Southampton. Yippee! Can anyone tell me what to expect? Moore briefly played at Chicago's Blues Fest last year. My expectations were low but I thought he was still pretty good. OTOH, I got to see one song; I make no promises about a longer set. But as with the Merle Haggard question earlier this week, it's worth going just to see these people while we can. Bob
RE: The Eradication Game (Re: Grammyszzzzzzzzz....)
At 7:48 PM -0500 on 2/26/99, Jon Weisberger wrote: Oh, yeah, forgot about that Joni Mitchell thing. Eradicating her would leave the world without "You Turn Me On I'm A Radio," hence without Gail Davies' fine first version of it (she recorded it again for her recent, misleadingly-named Greatest Hits), hence without Leland Sklar's impossibly beautiful bass part on that record. Jon, between this and your other comments about Red Allen's solos, I think you're micromanaging. Leland Sklar would have done an impossibly beautiful bass part on some other record, no? Bluegrass Reunion would have been recorded with Red Allen leads if Garcia had never been born, no? This isn't Six Degrees of Separation. g Bob
Re: Grammyszzzzzzzzz....
At 12:32 AM -0500 on 2/25/99, Mitch wrote: THE DIXIE CHICKS WON? Oh God, country's answer to The Spice Girls gets an award for Best Cleavage--Country Duo or Group (couldn't be for their talent, or lack thereof). That's a great line, but -- although I liked the previous Chicks much better than the current incarnation -- Laura was the highlight of an otherwise quite talented band. The sisters and the rest of the band weren't exactly dragging Laura down, and if they're fluffier and less interesting than they once were, let alone submerging the full range of their talent in their quest for financial success, they're still better than a lot of what's out there. Great line, though. I'll give you this -- they need fashion tips a lot more than they need music lessons. Bob
RE: Grammyszzzzzzzzz....
On Thu, 25 Feb 1999, Jon Weisberger wrote: [Matt Benz] Hmmm. I was thinking that wasn't even her actual band behind her... It was, or at least one of the fiddle players was the same. I've seen him/her (!) before on other televised performances. You aren't alone on that question, Jon. I was watching last night and first wondered if the fiddlers were twins, then realized that one looked more like a guy. Bob
Chicago: Steve and Del at Borders
According to this week's NewCity, before their show at the Vic in a month, Steve Earle and the Del McCoury band will do a in-store set at the Borders on Clark and Diversey at 7 PM. Good thing it's a short walk to the Vic. Bob
Re: Merle/Dale
At 7:19 PM -0500 on 2/25/99, Mike Hays wrote: Kate - No, Merle didn't play with Dale at Tramps. I know Dale would have thought he had died and went to heaven if Merle had. Must be the show Dale opened for Merle. Dale did come out and do a harmony on "Okie" at Bonnie's urging. Dale was positively stoked the next night in Richmond. He was kind of petrified, or something, at the time, though. "Urging" doesn't capture how hard Bonnie had to work to get him out there. Bob
Re: Merle question
On Wed, 24 Feb 1999 Rebecca wrote: I bought a Merle Haggard box set a few months ago and have greatly enjoyed it. I recently saw in the Globe that he is coming to the Boston area in a couple of months and am wondering if he is worth going to see. What do you guys think? Anyone seen him recently? Would I be wasting my time/money? A year and a half ago, Rebecca, Bostonian Stuart Munro and I went to NYC (he drove the whole distance both ways) to see Merle at Tramp's. That's, what, 9 hours of driving (and his car was literally falling apart on the return trip) for 75 minutes of Merle. Neither of us felt cheated. (Of course, it was easier for me.) I can't imagine you'd enjoy it any less, but even if you did, it beats not going and wondering. Or, worse, not going and then hearing later how good it was. Bob
Re: Jack Clement
On Wed, 24 Feb 1999, Joe Gracey listed some of Jack Clement's work: Johnny Cash Jerry Lee Lewis Charley Pride (he shared production duties, and his stuff is the best by far) The Stoneman Family John Hartford Townes Inspiration for the Don Williams/ Crystal Gayle early 70s sound Louie Armstrong (he made a country album!) Inspiration for Tompall's sound, even down to the vocal style More I forget now... Thanks for the word, Joe; I guess this is an example of Smith's Law, that you only notice production when it's bad. Now put down that keyboard and get some rest. Bob
Jesse Taylor's site?
When Ely was in town recently, the guy at the merch table mentioned that Jesse Taylor had a site and was selling a few things off of it. A few searches on AltaVista haven't turned it up -- can anyone steer me there? TIA... Bob
Re: Hyper produced Bobby Bare
On Tue, 23 Feb 1999, Terry A. Smith wrote: I fet the feeling that Chet shoe-horned everybody into his own poppy world, whether they belonged their or not. FWIW, Terry, having grown up on that era of country music, I agree. I'm reminded of a wonderful pic on the back of one of Waylon's LPs from that period, showing him and Atkins producing one of Jennings' songs. I can't imagine that it was a candid photo, yet the contrast between Atkins' expression -- intent concentration -- and Jennings' -- morose dejection -- is stark. Years before he recorded the song, he's already aware that Hank didn't do it this way. While I don't doubt the sincerity of the folks who've advocated the arrangement the song got, I wonder if they're defending it at least in small part because it's what they've heard all their lives and they're used to it. Maybe someday they'll build a machine that strips out strings and choruses the way karaoke machines strip out lead vocals and then we'll be able to figure it out. Frankly, even aside from the arrangements per se, I thought his tempo was too fast, too bright for that song. Bob
Re: Hyper produced Bobby Bare
At 5:10 PM -0600 on 2/23/99, David Cantwell served me up the perfect opening: I don't think anyone told you this. I can't imagine anyone on this list, in fact, ever telling anyone this, not even me g. But: Please don't tell me that the Nashville Sound was some kind of artistic decline in country music, either. --david cantwell I think you're both right. The Nashville Sound has little to do with country music. It was a way for country musicians to stay employed. But they weren't making country music. It was just *marketed* as country music. Bob, feeling like it's the good old days around here
